Veteran Jamaican sprinter Rasheed Dwyer says he is on a mission this season to achieve the World Championships qualifying standard for the men’s 200 metres.

Dwyer, the 2014 Commonwealth 200 champion, is hoping to secure the qualifying mark of 20.16 seconds this year.

The strongly-built sprinter, who has been hampered by injuries over the past couple of years, has shown signs of a return to form after he clocked back-to-back season’s best times of 20.53 at the Racers Grand Prix on June 3 at the National Stadium and 20.40 at the JAAA All Comers meet at the Richard Ashenheim track at Jamaica College last Saturday.

In fact, Dwyer, who has a personal best time of 19.80, is the fastest Jamaican 200 metres runner this year with his time of 20.40.

However, Andrew Hudson is the only Jamaican who currently has the World Championships qualifying standard for the 200m after he ran a blistering personal best time of 19.87 on August 22, 2022. The one-year World Championships qualification period for the sprint event runs July 31, 2022 to July 31, 2023.

Dwyer told the Jamaica Observer that he is not fully fit, but has been making steady progress in his build-up towards next month’s National Championships. He said that he is focused on achieving the qualification standard in his upcoming races before the cut-off period for the event.

“The intention going into the National Trials is to run the qualifying standard, and that is the most important thing for me right now,” Dwyer said.

“I am just going to go out there and do my best at the trials and try to execute as best as possible to achieve this time,” he said.

The 34-year-old Dwyer, who is coached by Maurice Wilson at the SprinTec Track Club, which is based at the GC Foster College in St Catherine, also shared that he is quite pleased with the progress that he has been making this season despite the fact that he is still not a hundred per cent fit.

“I am pleased with my progress so far, but I still have to be careful and just take it one step at time and try to measure my races as best as possible and follow my coach’s instructions,” he said.

“Every time I go out there he [Wilson] gives me a different instruction, so I am working on the behalf of the coach. I am not a hundred per cent because I am in a slight rehab form, but I am fully in training and I am still doing the necessary precaution,” said Dwyer.

The soft-spoken Dwyer, who made it to the 200m semi-finals at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, pointed out that he is feeling confident within himself at the moment and once he goes out and executes properly, then he will achieve the qualification standard.

“I am just taking it step by step, and so by trials, I should be ready because I have one more race coming up soon and so I am just going to execute it as best as possible and follow my coach’s instructions,” he stated.

The National Championship will be held from July 6-9 at the National Stadium.